


strawberry’s and cigarettes

by fayedjh



Category: Phandom
Genre: Cheating, Conflict, F/F, F/M, M/M, Slow Burn, alternate universe- teenagers in the 50s, friends first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 17:08:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18525907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fayedjh/pseuds/fayedjh
Summary: Being a cliché is all Dan has known, smoking and drinking, eating at diners lit by red hues. He was as predictable as a fairytale. But soon that fairytale will come crashing down because of a boy with a london accent.





	1. Chapter 1

Angry. Obnoxious. Abusive. Words you could use to describe many parts of Dan Howells life. Only one thing wasn't. When he's alone. Which he was right now. Sitting on a concrete step of the school, watching everyone walk past. Not daring to even glance in his direction. Not daring look at Dan or his temper. 

See, Dan had a reputation. Not one that he's proud of, but still, he had one.  And one thing Dan was known for, was his temper. Lashing out at teachers and getting into fights. 

The smooth sound of expensive tires and concrete filled the crisp morning air.  A clean maroon Chrysler Imperial drove up to the steps to let someone out. Dan watched intently as the car door swung open and someone climbed out. He took a drag of his cigarette as he waited for the mystery person to close the god damn door. 

A slender hand crept around. The car door shut suddenly, leaving an irrated new guy. After a second of looking around, he let go of his bag, fixed his hair and wiped his eyes. It was like he flicked a switch in his mind and changed his emotions. Then he pushed through a group roughly.  

 

He headed into the crumbling building, looking around with wide blue eyes.   
he must be new, Dan thought taking another drag and flicking the grey ash to the ground. 

 

He sighed looking at the fallen ash. Forgetting about the blue-eyed boy. Dan does that a lot. Think about people. Try guess what's going on in their life and then forget about them. 

Dan squished the butt of his cigarette with the heel of his shoe. He was waiting for his 'friends' to arrive. Waiting for his friends and his alter ego to arrive. 

"Howell!" a loud voice called, making Dan jump. He looked up to see Brianna walking along side Dylan who had Nancy hanging out of him like a coat on a hanger. 

Brianna wrapped her smooth arm around Dan's shoulders the best she could, as for the height difference. 

"God, I really need a weed" Nancy's snobby voice interrupted. "Anyone have one?" she asked, letting go of Dylan, her dirty blonde hair flowing in the wind 

"Fuck, I only have one babe" her boyfriend said, opening the pack he took out of the pocket of his bomber jacket. Of course, Dan thought as he resentfully took his pack out.   
"Here." he said bluntly as he held out the pack for her hand to take. 

 

Dan arrived at his higher-level English class alone and 10 minutes late. He pushed open the heavy wooden door expecting a quiet class. But he got the opposite. There was no teacher. People chatting and laughing across the room. It was loud. Loud and irritating. And slightly intimidating. How people more than likely saw Dan. 

Dan wanted shout at them to shut up. But he held it in, clenching his fists so tight it left crescent cuts on his palm from his fingernails. He took his seat and tried to relax. 

About a minute later a thin short woman walked in. she wore a pale yellow dress sinced at the waist. She was soon followed by the principle and a tall black-haired student. Dan instantly recognized him as the guy with the blue eyes from this morning. 

The principals bob haircut swung from side to side as she spoke enthusiastically "we have a new student! His name is Philip Lester," chatter filled the room, quickly shushed by the two stern looking women at the front. "he has moved here from London and I hope you all will be welcoming" she finished. Phil stood beside her, making her look short despite the efforts of her heels. Phil fidgeted with his strap waiting for someone to say something. 

"well, I'd better get going" the principal walked out of the room with her heels clicking. The teacher told Phil to take a seat, still smiling.   
Dan hated the act the teachers put on for new students, it's not like the kids going to actually think the teachers are this nice all the time. 

When Phil took his seat, he took out a refill pad and a pen and started taking notes. Dan watched as Phil's pale hand wrote quickly as the teacher spoke. 

 

It was now break and Dan day on the cold concrete for the second time that day. He leaned against the uneven brick wall as Nancy's monotone privileged Voice drilled into his head, 

"Did you guys hear there's a new chap?" She asked, taking a drag of her cigarette. I mean Dans cigarette. 

"Ya he's in my maths" Dylan mumbled, his mouth full of crisps. 

"Oooo really?" Brianna cooed 

"He's from London" Dan added, making Brianna even more interested. 

"God, does he have a London accent?" 

"Eh, dunno, didn't hear him talk" Dan mumbled, picking at his cigarette. 

Dan got swept up in his thoughts and ignored his friend's conversation. Though, something caught his eyes. Nay, someone. Stood by a bench was none other than the tall boy from this morning or well 'Philip'. He was stood talking to two other people. They were both shorter than him, but that's not shocking. One had short light brown hair, almost blonde. And the girl had long blonde hair curled tightly.  

"Dan?" Dylan said roughly, but when doesn't he sound rough, he's smoked since he was 12. 

"ya?" 

"you coming on Saturday baby?" 

Dan rolled his eyes "ya sure" he wasn't sure what he had agreed to, but their was a high chance that they were going to a house part because that's all they did. Living up to their stereotype anyway. 

 

Break ended and Dan had just figured out what they were doing on Saturday, let's say his guess was pretty accurate. 

"Daniel" Dan's thoughts were interrupted once again. 

"Huh?" He had absolutely no idea what Mr. Kent was even talking about. He was fucked. 

"Do you know the answer to the question?" 

He shifted in the seat to lean on the table "could you repeat the question." 

The class was dead silent. 

Mr. kurt sighed "what are the names of the two main characters?" 

Dan smirked, he payed more attention than people thought "Dwight and Betty" 

Mr. Kurt raised his eyebrows in surprise "correct. And what is the theme of the novel?" 

Now he was fucked. Dylan was sat across the room smirking at how Dan was showing up Mr.Kurt. He sat back in his seat. When suddenly a page was pushed across the floor by the person's foot beside Dan. "loss of innocence and power of tradition" was written in neat hand writing. 

Dan didn't know who they were exactly or why they were helping him, but he said fuck it. 

He sat up and smiled "loss of innocence and power of tradition" Breathing a sigh of relief as the teacher nodded. The bell went before the teacher could ask another question. Books closed and chairs where pushed. 

By the time went to see who helped him, they were gone. Vanished into the crowd of students leaving the room. A note was left in their place. "You're welcome" it said in that cute neat writing. Little did Dan know, 

That little note would ruin his life for the better.


	2. Chapter 2

The music thudded loudly in Phils ears, like a heartbeat. He took a sip of his drink, steadying himself.  
Its funny how he has found himself in this situation so many times back home, but it felt so different now. Seeing as this was his home now, he had to get used to it.  
He slipped in and out of groups, having to answer the same questions, “where are you from?” and “why did you move?”  
He found himself stood by the back of the sofa, facing the rest of the sitting room and kitchen, it was a large enough room and it was filled with people.  
Phil got bored quickly as the conversations led to the same dead end, so he decided staring at the wall would be more entertaining. No offense to the people he spoke too, most of them seemed fine, but none of them could hold an interesting conversation.  
Phil looked around the room, taking in the sight, hoping to see someone worth talking to.  
He saw that guy from science, he was doing something stereotypical, like chugging a beer. He also saw that girl who invited him, Bridget, he thought.

Soon the room became dull, nothing really caught his interest. Once he learned who everyone was it probably would get more interesting.  
He became lost in thought as he stared off into space, mindlessly sipping his drink. 

He was so transported by his thoughts he didn’t realize everyone was running until someone shouted “haul ass!”  
Which grabbed phil right out of his day dream, literally, he dropped his can as the person grabbed his arm and headed to the back door. 

 

It was all a blur, one minute he was standing bored out of his mind. begging the universe to make something happen. And then, all of a sudden, it happened, the universe answered. He was jumping the fence and running through crowds of drunken Saturday night partiers, hand in hand with some random guy.  
The adrenaline pumped through Phil’s veins, making him feel on a high. He and the strange boy dodge slurred comments and angry drunks as they fled the scene.  
Butterflies slowly crept into Phil’s stomach as he and the boy slowed down, making him more aware of the fact he was hand in hand with him. Phils mind reflexed back, repressing the little excitement he felt. Pretending the emotion was never there.

They came to a stop. Phil had now gotten the chance to look at the boy, and he realized he was that guy from his science class. He has curly brown hair and wore a black leather jacket. And in that moment he saw the boy’s face fall.  
Pure shock came over him as he instantly let go of phil, taking a few steps back as he tried to come up with something to say.  
Phil had no idea what was going on until the other spoke.  
“fuck!” he breathed “I can't fucking believe it! You're not who I thought you were! I thought you were my friend Brendon. He-he has black hair and he h-has a red jacket on!”  
Phil was absolutely shocked, though it explained why he grabbed him. He could tell the guy was sincerely sorry as he scratched the back of his neck to avoid eye contact.  
“Im so sorry!” he added, unsure of how to continue. A moment of heavy silence fell over them, no one willing break it.  
The boy looked like he was eyeballin’ Phil’s face, in the most discreet way possible. It was only a few more seconds until he spoke again.  
“you’re from my school? The new cookie from london?” he questioned, phil nodded.  
“did brianna invite you to Nat‘s bash?”  
Phil looked at him confused, he clearly didn’t know who this brianna was.  
“brianna? The easy dolly in our year? Pepper shaker with Brown hair?”  
Phil could now put a name to the face,  
“oh ya ya, her, she insisted I come, and how could I refuse!” phil sighed dramatically.  
The boy chuckled in response. The conversation feeling a bit more casual.  
“wanna cut out and grab a bite? The heat is probably going to be there for hours” dan asked, keeping the flow.  
“ya chill”  
“my rides is still down by nat’s pad, we can walk it” he suggested, and phil agreed, even though he didn’t even know the clyde’s name.  
They started walking down the street, the faint sound of police sirens in the distance faded as they walked.  
The silence fell heavy again, but more comfortable this time.  
“Soo..?” phil started, wanting to learn the name of this chap.  
“dan” he filled  
“dan” phil repeated for continuing the sentence, “have you lived here your whole life?”  
“pretty much, I live with my dad and my stepmom, they live a very suburban lifestyle”  
Phil nodded, taking in the information and making note of it.  
“what about you?”  
“huh?”  
“this the first time you’ve moved?”  
“oh, kinda? We moved a bit around, but nothing too far”  
Dan nodded as he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a deck of luckies, phil thanked the lord that when he opened the packet there was more than 1 cigarette. He could really use a smoke.  
Phil could feel his lighter in his back pocket burning as he saw dan look through his pockets, failing to find shat he wanted.  
Just as dan checked his pocket for the third time, phil took out his lighter and flicked it so it made a spark.  
Dan sighed of relief as he put the pack in Phils direction for him to take his pick.  
Phil lit up the lighter and lit his cigarette, as he went to flick it off, dan spoke,  
“light mine” he said as he leaned in with the cigarette between his lips, supported by his fingers on the sides.  
Phil watched as he took a large drag and blew it up into the air. He looked like something off a tv show, he could easily be a model he thought.  
“the place is just up here” dan reassured, breaking phil out of his trance.  
Phil nodded, taking another drag, thinking how much easier it would all be if his parents hadn’t up and moved their whole lives because of him.


End file.
